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Enterprise software giant SAP announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Gigya Inc., a market-leading provider of customer identity and access management tools. Gigya's "registration-as-a-service" (RaaS) platform enables companies to manage customer profiles and opt-in preferences efficiently, while the customers themselves maintain control of their own data.

Gigya currently manages 1.3 billion customer identities, helping enterprise clients market to their own customers in more effective, more personalized, and regulation-compliant ways. Customers opt-in and register using Gigya's service, which addresses frequently changing privacy and compliance requirements, including General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Gigya reports that more than 700 of the world's leading businesses use its platform to build "identity-driven relationships" and to provide scalable, secure, and compliant customer identity and access management (IAM).

A number of independent analyst firms including Forrester Research have named Gigya as a top vendor in the field of customer identity and access management. The company is privately held, was founded in Tel Aviv, Israel and is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with more than 300 employees overall. Its operations will become part of the SAP Hybris business unit for customer engagement and commerce.

Why SAP Needs Gigya

Gigya's technology provides compelling new capabilities for companies to manage customer data across multiple channels and touch points. It can be used to build intelligent profiles and to create consent-based strategies for personalizing sales, marketing, and customer service.

As SAP expands its portfolio of enterprise software for customer experience management and customer relationship management (CRM), it will use Gigya's technology and expertise to build out its SAP Hybris division. The intent is to be the first organization to offer a cloud-based data platform that companies can use to manage customer data and gather accurate conclusions from disparate consumer engagement sources -- all in line with the growing demands set forth by government regulations.

SAP Hybris, by the way, is the brand name launched in January 2016 to represent the SAP solutions for customer engagement and commerce that evolved from SAP's acquisition of hybris AG.

Personalizing the Customer Experience

"Companies need to be able to draw accurate conclusions seamlessly across all channels, including web, mobile, in-store or connected devices, and the Internet of Things," said Patrick Salyer, CEO of Gigya.

Integrating SAP Hybrid and Gigya solutions will help "drive more effective marketing, sales and service," Salyer explained, while the customer still stays in control of how much data is shared.

Ultimately, it's about giving companies a stronger set of tools to collect and manage customer data, and then using that data to personalize customer contact in ways that increase sales and improve the overall customer experience.

Although the acquisition was just announced, the relationship has been in the works for the past few years. Gigya has been an SAP Hybris partner since 2013, and already has customers using jointly developed solutions.

The acquisition is expected to close in the final quarter of 2017, subject to regulatory approval. Specific terms of the transaction were not included with the announcement, but multiple media sources are citing $350 million as the purchase price.